


Strange Meetings

by gilestel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Endor, First Meetings, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Pre-Epilogue, Skywalker Family Feels, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 03:39:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13966560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilestel/pseuds/gilestel
Summary: Luke almost didn’t notice the figure cloaked in white who stood before the charred remnants of the pyre in which he had cremated his father’s empty armor.





	Strange Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for "A World Between Worlds" and "Family Reunion--and Farewell"

_Ahsoka knew immediately when it happened._

_For over two decades, there had been a tiny knot of darkness tucked away in the corner of her consciousness.  For years, it had lingered just below the surface of her awareness, casting a secret pallor over her thoughts and actions.  She recognized now that it had been there since the beginning, a twisted tangle of pain and rage that extended frayed, grasping tendrils into the vacuum.   But it had not been until she had reignited the bond that she shared with her master that fateful day aboard the Ghost that she knew it for what it was. And once she was aware of that dark void within herself, there was no escaping its malignant presence._

_Its sudden absence felt as though a great, crushing weight had been lifted from her chest without warning.  She could feel the bruises it had left upon her person, but she could breathe freely now in a way she had not even realized she had previously been denied._

_Ahsoka felt tears spring to her eyes, unbidden.  She had mourned the loss of her master thrice now, but still she found herself overcome by some strange emotion; a mixture of sorrow, relief, and dread finality.  She had been alone before, but it felt different now._

_Anakin Skywalker was dead._

* * *

 

It had been nearly a week since the Battle of Endor, and everything still seemed slightly surreal to Luke.  Although he knew that elsewhere in the galaxy, battles were still being waged to seize control of Imperial strongholds and planetary governments, and that Mon Mothma and the rest of the Rebel Alliance’s high command were struggling to cobble together a functioning government, here, deep within the forests of Endor, it felt as though the Empire was well and truly defeated.  As he pushed his way through the thick Endorian underbrush, Luke could smell the heavy odor of wood smoke that still lingered on the air, a byproduct of the celebratory bonfires that burned almost continuously on the planet’s surface since the destruction of the second Death Star.

Since the Empire’s defeat, Leia had spent most of her long days sequestered in meetings with Rebel commanders, discussing the minutia of regime change. Han, never capable of staying put for long, was off routing Imperials on the other side of the planet.   But Luke, as the sole living witness to the Emperor’s demise, had been instructed to keep himself on planet and available. It turned out that not many beings believed that Palpatine _could_ be killed, much less by Vader, his most loyal servant.  Many planetary officials insisted on hearing confirmation straight from the source—(“So the rumors were true.  He _is_ a Jedi!”)—before they would consider joining the Rebellion’s fledgling coalition.  Luke found himself being pulled into holoconferences with various bureaucratic beings at all hours by an increasingly harried Leia, to confirm that yes, he had witnessed Palpatine and Vader die aboard the second Death Star, and no, there was no possibility that either of them had survived its destruction even though, yes, Luke had _also_ been aboard the second Death Star, and yes, _he_ had managed to escape.

Today, though, Leia was off-planet on some diplomatic mission, the details of which were lost on Luke.  This meant that he was unlikely to be called upon to sweet-talk a hesitant ex-Imperial governor into pledging xir allegiance to Mon Mothma’s government anytime soon.  Seizing upon the unexpected freedom, Luke decided to take the opportunity to practice some uninterrupted meditation. Regaining and losing his father in such rapid succession had affected Luke in a way he did not yet fully understand.  He needed space and time to reflect and regain his emotional balance.

Seeking someplace where he could meditate in peace, Luke wandered off into the forest.  He was almost halfway to the clearing before he realized where his aimless wandering was taking him.

Luke had only gotten the briefest glimpse of his father’s Force ghost at the victory celebration before Leia had pulled him away to join the festivities.  At times, he wondered if he had hallucinated it. Anakin had not appeared to him since, nor had Obi-Wan, nor Yoda.

Luke continued walking towards the pyre where he had cremated his father's empty armor.  Maybe it was foolish, but he secretly harbored the hope that the pale blue image of the young man who could be none other than Anakin Skywalker would appear to him once more.  As he walked, he tried to empty his mind, slowing his breathing and letting his awareness extend out to encompass the trees and vines and shrubs and creatures who made the forest their home.  He attempted to lose himself in the sensation of the breeze on his cheeks, the rustle of the leaves, the scent of wet leaves hidden beneath the smoke.

Luke was so immersed in his meditative state, he almost didn’t notice the figure cloaked in white who stood before the charred remnants of the pyre.

He startled, not expecting anyone else to be in the clearing.  It was disconcerting—his consciousness had been immersed deep within Force, and yet he had not felt the presence of any other sentient being.  The silhouette was humanoid, but obviously not human. It had its back towards Luke, its gaze seemingly focused on the dark mound of ash. One brown hand grasped a slender staff.  He couldn’t tell if it was a weapon or a prop.

Luke was immediately wary.  His metal hand inched towards the lightsaber at his side.  Only Han, Leia, and the droids knew the location of this clearing and its significance.  Though Theepio might have unwittingly shared the information, Luke couldn't think of any innocent reason for a stranger to seek the pyre out.

Without turning to face him, the figure spoke.  It was with a woman's voice, soft and steady, but brimming with some indescribable emotion.  

“I couldn't save him,” she said, brown knuckles turning white as her grip tightened around the strange white staff she held.

It seemed impossible that anyone who spoke with such depth of sorrow and emotion could be an agent of evil, but Luke could also think of none other who would mourn Anakin Skywalker so.  Leia had, in her own no-nonsense way, respectfully given Luke space to grieve, but he could tell that his affection for their father was something that she would always have trouble understanding.  Han had treated Luke’s loss with his typical brusque nonchalance, and as for everyone else, well…

A million questions sprung to the tip of Luke’s tongue, but what he asked first was, “You knew my father?”

Prompted by his question, the woman turned to face him, but her eyes lingered on the pyre for a second longer as though she could hardly bear to look away from it.  Reluctantly, she brought her solemn blue gaze up to stare piercingly at Luke. She was a togruta female--tall, commanding, the definition of her features softened by the shadows cast by the hood of her cloak.  

“I knew Anakin Skywalker,” she confirmed.  “Long ago, when I was a child.”

Luke could barely contain his surprise.  “Who _are_ you?” he asked.

“My name is Ahsoka Tano,” she said.

The name wasn’t familiar to him, but that didn’t mean much.  Luke stared at her in puzzled contemplation. It was difficult to judge her age; the white patterns adorning her clay-red skin camouflaged her features like war paint, making her almost seem ageless.  He had no idea how old she was. Or, for that matter, how old his father had been. The man whom he had glimpsed at the party had seemed so young—barely older than Luke himself—and the man under the mask had been so scarred and disfigured that it had been impossible to discern his age.  But the strange woman looked at the very least old enough to have lived through the Clone Wars, and though she could have easily encountered his father on one of his campaigns, or known him even earlier, when he was a child on Tatooine, that meant that there was a chance—

“Are you a Jedi?” he blurted out before he could stop himself.  It was a ridiculous idea. After all, hadn't Master Yoda told him, ‘ _...last of the Jedi, you will be_?’

“No,” she said softly, with a small shake of her head and a sad smile.  “I'm not a Jedi.”

Luke couldn't fight down the small twinge of disappointment he felt at her response.  Of course she wasn't a Jedi. Wouldn't Ben or Yoda have mentioned her?

Luke hesitantly moved to stand beside Ahsoka before the charred remnants of the pyre.  Until now, he had felt so confident in himself, so certain of his connection to the Force, but somehow this woman had managed to shake that confidence by her mere existence.  

Now that he was looking for her, he could finally feel her within the Force. She reminded him of Ben and Yoda, enough so that if she _had_ responded that she was a Jedi, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.  But there was also something... _off_ about her, something uncanny that he couldn't quite put his finger on.  It was almost as if she had the otherworldly mien of a pale blue Force ghost, only, of course, she seemed to all his senses to be alive and corporeal and certainly not any kind of apparition.  It was as though she existed in some liminal space. It was unsettling, and spoke to aspects of the Force of which he had no knowledge.

Not wanting to meet her eyes, Luke instead stared down at the ashy, half-burnt pile of wood.  He had returned the morning after the celebration only to discover that the flames had not burned hot enough to fully destroy Vader's armor.  Black shards of durasteel protruded from the ash and cinders like a smoldering shipwreck. The acrid scent of burning circuitry lingered in the air.

Luke had sifted through the ashes with a charred stick, searching for as many pieces of twisted black durasteel as he could find.  He buried the fragmented remains next to the pyre in a shallow grave, and levitated a boulder to cover the site of the upturned earth.  Although Luke knew that his father's flesh had vanished into the Force, the armor and cybernetics had been as much a part of Darth Vader as Anakin Skywalker’s body.  To obtain any real sense of closure, he needed to give Vader's inorganic components a proper burial as well. And there were other, more practical reasons for his actions, too: Luke wanted to avoid the possibility of desecration or sanctification should his father’s remains fall into the hands of anyone else, be they friend or foe.

“I couldn't save him either,” he said when the silence grew too loud.  But he had a feeling that that hadn't been what she had meant.

“But you _did_ save him,” Ahsoka said, turning her head to smile gently at Luke.  She sounded genuinely grateful. “And you didn't leave him. You did what I could not.  You stayed with him until the end.”

Luke turned to look at her sharply.  How did she know that? He had only spoken to Leia about the details of what had happened aboard the second Death Star.  Everyone else, even Mon Mothma, even _Han,_ had gotten a sanitized version of events wiped clean of Vader’s final moments.  He tensed. And for that matter, how had she even known to come here? It certainly seemed unlikely that she had stumbled upon the clearing by mere chance.

“How did you—?” he demanded.

“Through the Force we may know many things,” she said almost mischievously, eyes twinkling.  Perhaps sensing Luke’s growing unease, her tone quickly became perfunctory. “But in this instance, Master Obi-Wan told me.  He also told me where I would find Anakin’s grave.” Her eyes darted over to the boulder.

“ _Master_ Obi-Wan?   _Ben_ told you?”  Just who was this woman?  Luke fought back the seed of jealousy that Ben, who had been conspicuously absent for days now, had apparently deigned to talk to _her_ —“But you said that you weren't a Jedi!”

Ahsoka quirked a brow at him.  “I'm not. The Jedi don't have a monopoly on the Force, although it doesn't surprise me that Master Obi-Wan and Master Yoda might encourage you to think that way.  They were both very devoted to the Order in life.”

Luke bristled at the implied slight to his teachers.  She seemed to sense his discomfort. “I mean no disrespect to either of them.  The teachings of the Jedi Order are but one way of connecting to the Force, and it is not necessarily a path that is meant for every Force user to follow.  It took me a while to realize that, even after I left the Order.”

“You left the Order?  You mean you _used_ to be a Jedi?”  Luke hadn't even realized that that was possible.  He had never heard of anything like a “former” Jedi.  Even Ben, in his exile, had never ceased to be anything but a Jedi Knight.

At Luke’s puzzled expression, she said, “I was Anakin Skywalker’s padawan.”

Luke's eyebrows disappeared under his bangs.  “You were my father's student?”

Ahsoka smiled softly.  “Yes. I loved Anakin like a brother,” she said.  “We were actually only a few years apart in age, but he taught me so much.  Not just about being a Jedi, but about how to be a good person...a good friend.  Leaving him was one of the hardest things I've ever done.”

Luke listened, rapt.  He had never heard his father described in such a way.  Ben had spoken of him as a peer, a colleague, but this woman spoke of him as if he were family.  In her words, Luke caught a glimpse of the man who had sacrificed himself to save his son's life.  

He desperately wanted to know more.

“Why did you leave?” he asked.

“I was betrayed by a friend,” she said, “and I came to realize that the institutions that I had been raised in were no longer ones that I could trust.”

“Did my father…?” Luke began, both dreading the answer and needing to hear it.

She smiled sadly. “Anakin was the only one who never lost faith in me.”

Luke tried to reconcile this version of his father with the man who had somehow managed to so enormously lose sight of himself.  He still didn’t know what had precipitated his father’s fall, and this served only to further muddy the waters. He felt a stab of jealousy that she had been able to know this side of his father, that they had—however briefly—shared a relationship that he had been denied.

“I wish we had had more time together,” he admitted.

Ahsoka gazed out over the ashy ground to stare at the boulder that marked the grave.  “So do I,” she said.

Luke tried to imagine a universe where his father had lived.  Would Anakin have ever told him about Ahsoka? Would Leia be willing to recognize their familial relationship?   _Leia_ —

“I have a sister,” Luke blurted out.  It suddenly seemed vitally important that he share this knowledge with Ahsoka.

“I know,” she said.  “I was good friends with Bail.”  Luke wasn’t sure why this came as such a surprise to him.  After all, the was a clear connection between Bail and Ben, and Ben and his father.  “He was always so proud of his daughter. And I'm proud of her, too. She's grown into a fine young woman.”  Ahsoka paused. “You should ask Leia if she remembers Ashla, her old tutor.”

“Ashla?” Luke asked, but Ahsoka merely smiled in response.

They stood in silence for a moment.

“I should go,” she said at last.

“But can't you stay?” he asked, mentally cursing the plaintive note that entered into his voice.  “I still have so much to learn about the Force, and the Rebellion needs all the help it can get to act before the Empire has a chance to regroup…”

Ahsoka smiled regretfully at him.  “I have other things that need doing, I'm afraid.  I have a friend who's been waiting for me for a very long time, and it's past time for me to go to him.”

“A friend…?” Luke asked.

“Now, _he_ is a Jedi,” she said, her sad smile transforming into a wry grin.  “When I return, I'll have to introduce you. I think you'll like him.”

 _A Jedi?_  

By the time Luke had managed to process _that_ revelation, Ahsoka had already disappeared into the forest, her white cloak quickly vanishing within a sea of green.  Luke made an abortive attempt to chase after her, intent on getting answers, but he barely made it a few paces out of the clearing before he realized that it would be a futile effort.  Ahsoka had well and truly vanished, without even a soft-soled footprint left in the dense, loamy forest floor. Luke strained for the distant hum of a speederbike or the roar and rustle of a ship taking off, but all he heard were the sounds of the forest, unphased by Luke's distress.  It was almost as though Ahsoka had never been there at all.

* * *

 _Many light-years away, Ahsoka stood atop a bright, white tower.  Luke had found his family, and they would keep him safe. She locked eyes with Sabine.  Ezra had saved_ their _family._

_Now it was time for them to return the favor._

**Author's Note:**

> Ahsoka's words to Ezra got me thinking about how she would deal with the realization that Anakin _was_ able to be saved...just not by her. And thus this fic was born.
> 
>  
> 
> [Now with a bonus illustration by me! ](http://gil-estel.tumblr.com/post/171943521331/illustration-for-a-fic-i-wrote-where-luke-meets)


End file.
